


We're Dealing in Confined Emotions

by Amazing_E_ko



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-18 07:45:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amazing_E_ko/pseuds/Amazing_E_ko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jade and Karkat meet up in a dream bubble, and it snowballs from there... Written for the kinkmeme.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We're Dealing in Confined Emotions

**Author's Note:**

> Another kink meme prompt, which I am resurrecting, with a couple of very minor corrections. This is the most shameful, self-indulgent fluff I think I've ever written (until next time). Have fun, don't take it too seriously. (Also there is a way to get the colors right, but I don't have it set up yet, so :|. They're all there on the kinkmeme if you miss them. XD.) Oh and one more thing - the title of this fic and the opening quote come from a song by Ham Sandwich, called Ants, which is really worth a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwBe_jxkJ-A

_You're a branch that I can't hang from,_  
 _My mind sees valleys, my mind feels lost,_  
 _Gets washed away in a sea of splendour,_  
 _Wish I could carry you like an army of ants._  
 _For so long, she’s known._

 

**== > Be Jade Harley**

You are now Jade Harley.

**== > Be incredibly frustrated with everything. **

Well that’s easy. You have been incredibly frustrated with everything for months, and it’s only been getting worse. You are slowly going crazy on this battleship, which seems to get smaller and smaller by the day. It might have five floors, not including the engine deck, but it barely leaves you room to breathe. You can’t turn a corner without running into Davesprite, or not running into him, depending on the day. You want to respect whatever way he decides to deal with the break-up, but you wish he would settle on just one. And John is no better. He’s going through a very melodramatic phase of puberty.  
You just want someone else to talk to. Any of the trolls would do. Dave would be nice, if a little awkward. Rose would be amazing. And Karkat-

 

**== > Stop daydreaming and be practical. **

That’s very wise advice, yourself. You haven’t ever even seen Karkat, and you have no idea how the past two years might have changed him! It would be the height of frivolity to assume that you know anything about his feelings now. If you miss him, it can only be as a friend.

 

**== > Navigate dream bubbles. **

Gosh, you wish that was possible. It would make your life so much easier. But dream bubbles are unpredictable. Just about all you can do is sleep and hope for the best. They have no internal topography that a human mind can understand. It hasn’t stopped you trying, of course. It’s just stopped you from succeeding.  
You almost wish you still had your narcolepsy, inconvenient as it was. Only being able to sleep when you’re tired is becoming extremely irritating.  
Still, you’re asleep right now, so you may as well make the best of it. Apparently you were the first person to enter this dream bubble, because you’re wandering around the Land of Frost and Frogs, before the forge started and the snow melted.

 

**== > Explore. **

There’s not much here you haven’t seen. This is an area near your house, and you explored it many times while you were frog hunting. You meander absently through the trees, dripping with thick icicles. There are no secrets for you here. You could force the dream bubble to change to something more interesting, if you wanted, but it seems kind of pointless when there’s no one else around.

 

**== > Be unsure about that last statement. **

Or at least, you thought there wasn’t anyone here. As you wade through a particularly heavy drift you become aware of a distant noise. Someone somewhere is swearing.

 

**== > Investigate. Now! **

Good idea. Better do it quietly, though. You float off the ground, careful not to make a sound, and let yourself drift through the trees. Your heart is hammering in your chest and your stomach does a not-unpleasant kind of lurch, expectant and anxious all at once. You tuck yourself behind the largest tree and peer around its trunk, hoping that for once your luck with dreams will be good.

 

**== > Be Karkat Vantas. **

Don’t be stupid. Of course you are Karkat Vantas. Who else would you be? You are Karkat Vantas and you have been stuck in this shitty dream bubble for five minutes now, in snow, clearly one of the worst things about the cancerous world you created. Trust Harley the perpetually sunny to get a planet full of the stuff. You are 100% blaming this particular misfortune on Strider, seeing as he’s the only one who’s ever been there. Which is fine, since he has been the constant metaphorical thorn in your side for over two years now. Though at this point the thorn is more of a broadsword of douchiness, swung relentlessly by a red-caped asshole.  
You finally stop swearing and extricate yourself from the huge, cold drift. You sit on a nearby log, brushing away the snow before you do. It is at this point that you hear the giggle.

 

**== > Jade: Do the big reveal. **

You can’t help yourself. Karkat’s mannerisms are such a perfect mix of fastidious and grumpy, and such a perfect representation of the person you met over Persterchum. A laugh escapes you, and you know there’s nothing for it but to reveal yourself. You step out from behind the tree, still floating, your red shoes barely grazing the tightly-packed snow.

 

**== > Be Karkat Vantas. **

 

 

**== > You cannot be Karkat Vantas. He has forgotten how to think. Be Jade instead. Jade: Go and sit beside him. **

It is so interesting to see Karkat properly, finally. You can’t stop looking at him. If you both stood up you would be around the same height. Well, maybe your ears would give you an extra inch, but that’s it. With his nubby horns and his apparently permanent hunch and his short stature he doesn’t look much like the other trolls you’ve met, but you can’t help liking him all the same. He is unique and just adorable.  
And all of a sudden, looking at him, you feel something settle into place, a certainty denied to you before now. All of the doubts you had – about what you felt, about what he felt, about what it all meant – are gone, melted in a flash of body heat, and you know exactly what you want.  
“so. hey! i guess we finally meet! ”

 

**== > Be Karkat Vantas again. **

You have recovered from your momentary lapse in attention and are your usual smooth talking, knowledgeable self. Harley should feel grateful she has run into you. It must be awful to have nobody but John the dweeb and a shitty Strider knock-off to talk to.  
You can feel her looking at you, and you look back more awkwardly, your eyes sidling up to her and taking her in. She’s a little taller than you remember from the viewports, and her face has lengthened out a bit. The obvious addition is the ears, white and fluffy and fucking absurd. You definitely don’t even want to think about petting them. They’re a good sign though. She definitely can’t be a terrible Strider memory if she has those ears. Nothing is more irritating than Strider-made Jades. They never act right. They never sass back.  
“WHOOP DE FUCKING DO, WE MEET INDEED. ANGELS WILL SING FROM THE FUCKING HEAVENS, JADE HARLEY HAS HAD ONE OF HER SHITTY WRIGGLER DREAMS FULFILLED. THIS DAY WILL BE NOTED IN CALENDERS AS THE MOST ENLIGHTENING IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF MANKIND. ”  
Jade doesn’t even react. She just quirks an eyebrow at you, smiling with a wry twist, and you find yourself looking away. You like to think you’re all grown up these days, but one conversation with Jade is enough to make you feel like the most pathetic of wrigglers all over again.  
“we can fight later, ” she says, all tolerant amusement, “but tell me everything first! I want to know how youre all doing.”  
“NOTHING TO TELL. I’VE BEEN ON A BORING METEOR FOR TWO YEARS WATCHING TROLL/HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS BECOME INCREASINGLY QUADRANTY AND GROSS. SLOPPY MAKEOUTS ALL OVER THE PLACE. ”  
“quadranty? ” Jade’s voice is curious but not confused, so you figure you don’t have to go into all the complexities of quadrants for the edification of stupid boring humans. Again. Instead, you just shrug.  
“KANAYA AND ROSE MADE IT OFFICIAL A WHILE BACK, AND STRIDER AND TEREZI ARE SO PAINFULLY FUCKING OBVIOUS THAT ITS UNBEARABLE. YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW HOW MANY AWKWARD MAKEOUTS WERE SEARED INTO MY EYEBALLS BEFORE THEY REGAINED A MODICUM OF SENSE AND DECENCY. ”  
You are about halfway through this speech when you remember Harley’s unfathomable crush on Strider and wish you could stop, but your mouth is already running five paces ahead of your brain, and so you can only wait for her to start sobbing bitterly into her handkerchief and swearing revenge.  
She doesn’t do that, though. She smiles instead, the smile of someone who has had some educated guesses confirmed, and if anything she looks happier than ever. It dawns on you that you have no idea what she’s thinking, and that that thought is wildly terrifying.

 

**== > Understand Jade’s train of thought. **

Karkat cannot do this, but you can, because you are Jade Harley, and if you don’t understand yourself, who could? You are feeling happy and excited and nervous all at once. You could stay here like this forever, if that didn’t cut off the possibility of even more interesting things happening. Karkat is not talking and there is a worried look in his eyes, and you have neither the desire nor the opening to explain to him everything that happened with Davesprite, and everything it changed, and everything you now understand and feel for Dave. It would take too much time. So you just smile.  
“and you? how have you been? ”  
Karkat looks faintly shocked, and he stays silent for a just a second too long before he answers, though when he does his tone is grouchy and disdainful.  
“I JUST TOLD YOU, JADE. I’VE BEEN BORED. OUT OF MY LARGE AND RATHER IMPRESSIVE MIND. THE MOST INTERSTING THING THAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST TWO YEARS WAS MEETING A BUNCH OF REALLY SHITTY VERSIONS OF MY FRIENDS WHO TRIED TO DRAG ME INTO THEIR ABSURD ROMANTIC DRAMAS. AND IT TURNED OUT THAT MY ANSCESTOR WAS EVEN WORSE THAN I COULD EVER HAVE IMAGINED HIM BEING. FUCKING WHOOP. KNOWING ME, IT WAS UTTERLY INEVITABLE. ”  
You blink, and run through what he just said. Some of it is going over your head, but you get the drift. Karkat looks aloof and cynical about the whole thing, which undoubtedly means he has lots of opinions he’s keeping from himself. You wonder just how long it’s been since he talked to someone he doesn’t have any baggage about.  
Well, not much baggage, anyway.  
“sounds a lot more interesting than my two years! ”  
“THAT’S NOT EXACTLY SURPRISING, JADE. DUST MITES LIVING INSIDE PILLOWCASES PROBABLY HAD MORE INTERESTING ADVENTURES THAN YOU. ”  
“hey at least i got to spend my time hanging out with people i like! and my powers are way better than they used to be. ”  
You move your hands – more for effect than from necessity – and lift some of the snow up, shaping it remotely into three perfect balls. You glance back to Karkat, to see if he’s impressed, but his gaze isn’t on the snow at all. He’s looking at you.  
Your stomach squeezes, and you don’t think you could explain to anyone just how much you like his expression right now. Oh well. You throw the snowballs anyway.

 

**== > Karkat: Get hit by snowballs. **

You are embarrassingly surprised by the snowballs. To be honest, you have been running on autopilot ever since Jade asked you how you were doing. It’s the first time in a long time that anyone has asked you that. You have mostly been an observer for the past two years, or at least it has felt like it. But Jade puts you first. Simply, naturally, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. You try to find words for how you feel about her without turning into the most sentimental fool who ever lived, and fail miserably. You are the sentimental fool. It’s you.  
The snow smacks into you with a faint thunk just as this is crossing your mind, knocking you off the log and into a snow drift. Jade jumps up too, rising into the air by her own command, floating and laughing and watching you intently. Her laughter is totally ungraceful and infectious, a series of mad cackles that fits her title, if nothing else.  
You sprawl in the snow, too dazed to know how to react. There is snow seeping into your clothes, melting in your hair, and Jade just drifts above it, pristine and unruffled. Time to end that.  
“IF WE’RE GOING TO FUCKING DO THIS, JADE, THEN IT’S NO POWERS. DEAL? ”  
Jade nods eagerly and drops into the snow inelegantly, sending it billowing up around herself. You waste no time, and begin making snowballs at once, rolling the snow with your usual masterful skill. Harley won’t know what hit her. The game is on.

 

**== > Game: be on. **

This game is definitely on. It is more on than any game in the history of Paradox Space. It is also, unsurprisingly, very short.

 

**== > Jade: be the unequivocal winner. **

Even without your powers, you have more experience in snow than Karkat (not by a great deal, but still), better aim with projectiles and a lot more ruthlessness. You sneak between the trees, you hunt like the canine you are, you dodge lightly and hurl viciously. And when you are panting and exhausted you make your final move.

 

**== > Jade: spring. **

Like a terrier chasing a fox you sight your prey and pounce.

 

**== > Karkat: be tackled. **

You are about to make _your_ final move – your ultimate victory strike – when Jade springs out of nowhere and tackles you into yet another snow drift. Your clothes are soaked through, so you hardly notice the chill, and you especially fail to notice anything that isn’t Jade herself, pinning you down and hovering over you, her face red with cold and exertion, her breathing rapid and her pupils wide and dark. Even if you hadn’t learned anything about humans in the past two years you would know exactly what this means. Some things just naturally cross the species boundary.  
“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING? ” There is an unpleasant note of panic in your voice, which you really wish wasn’t there. What is she doing?  
“winning, ” Jade says, smug and grinning and so beautiful that every thought slips out of your head. Unfortunately, this leaves your mouth on autopilot.  
“WINNING? BY WHAT STANDARD WERE YOU WINNING? I WAS JUST ABOUT TO DESTROY YOU UTTERLY. IF YOU CAN’T TELL THAT YOU’RE EVEN STUPIDER THAN I THOUGHT. ”  
The tiny rational part of yourself is screaming and waving, but your mouth pays no attention. You wait for her to get up and leave you and never come back, but she doesn’t.  
Instead, she kisses you.

 

**== > Jade: Move somewhere more comfortable. **

The kiss is pretty amazing. It is probably the most amazing thing that has ever happened to you. You are fully aware of that. But you are also aware of Karkat shivering beneath you and of how wet both your clothes are, and really, kissing in a snow bank is only romantic for about five seconds.  
You reach out with your mind, feeling the substance of the bubble. You feel the shape of the memory enfolding you, and without breaking the kiss, you give it a sharp twist. The cold forest fades away, replaced by the brilliant white sand of your island beach. The air is hot and warm and it reaches into your bones. Karkat starts slightly at the change, but really you are both too distracted to think about it for very long.

 

**== > Jade: Pass the time. **

You pass the time. You pass quite a lot of time. Not all the time, nothing like it, but enough. You have to stop eventually though, partially to breathe and partially because the sun is really quite intense and you are wearing far too many clothes. You shrug out of your hood and over-dress, and pull off your shoes and socks. Karkat, beside you, does the same with his sweater and shoes, and you both bury your feet in the hot sand. It is an intense and delicious sensation. Rather like kissing, so.  
Speaking of which. You move to kiss Karkat again, but to your great surprise he stops you. There is a moment in which you are absurdly, illogically hurt, but he pulls you down so that your head rests on his shoulder and your legs are tangled into each other. You can hear his heart beating and feel his chest move with every breath, and it’s just as good as kissing in a weirdly different way. It was never like this with Davesprite. There’s nothing fraught or fragile, here, just a very thoughtful peace.  
You take Karkat’s hand and press it against yours, palm to palm, the way children love to do when they are young. His fingers are longer than yours, and they arch back slightly at the tips. His skin is tough and slightly leathery on the backs of his hands, though it is soft and smooth on his palms. His nails are yellow and long, more like claws than brittle human nails. He is an alien. You know this. You find it doesn’t frighten you. You are intrigued, and excited by the possibilities, and very, very content.

 

**== > Karkat: Raise the inevitable problem. **

You do not want to do this. You have never wanted to do anything less. Your head is full of words you haven’t yet said. Your head is full of things you can’t say. Your head is full of things you can only express by doing, like the way you want to run your fingers through her long hair and fan it out around her head in a dark halo. If you had all the time in the world it wouldn’t be enough to do half of what you want, and you don’t have anything like that.  
“I’M GOING TO WAKE UP SOON. ”  
Jade turns her head to look at you, her eyes sad but not despairing, not lost.  
“thats a shame! i was hoping wed have more time. ”  
You cannot understand how she is being so blasé. Doesn’t she realise how uncertain the dream bubbles are? You cannot possibly bear ten months without her. Not now. Hopefully, not ever.  
“THERE’S A LOT OF THINGS I WANT TO SAY. I THINK I’VE WANTED TO SAY SOME OF THEM FOR QUITE A WHILE, BUT PAST ME WAS ALWAYS SUCH A GRUB-SNIFFING COWARD THAT HE NEVER MANAGED IT. AND NOW I THINK I COULD SAY THEM AND WE DON’T HAVE TIME. ”  
“so say them next time. ”  
Her face is calm and still, and utterly certain. You wish you had her faith.  
“I REALISE YOU COULD NEVER ASPIRE TO MY INTELLECTUAL HEIGHTS, JADE, BUT YOU COULD AT LEAST TRY. I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN TWO YEARS. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK WE’LL MEET AGAIN BEORE THE SHIP AND THE METOER ARRIVE AT THE NEW SESSION? ”  
Jade shrugs.  
“ill make it happen. ill look for you in every dream bubble until i find you. i wont let this be the end. ”  
There are a thousand things you want to say to her, and she has just said them all in three sentences. You respond in the language humans like to use.  
“I LOVE YOU TOO.”  
And then the dream bubble begins to fade, and you know your time is up.

 

**== > Karkat: Wake up. **

You open your eyes. You are lying on a horn pile, which is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but you resigned yourself to it long ago. At the other end of the room, Rose and Dave and Kanaya are sitting at a table together. Rose and Kanaya are holding hands, and Dave is rapping at them. It is a scene you have seen countless times before, and normally it drives you mad, but right now, you find that you just don’t care.

 

**== > Jade: Wake up. **

You stretch your arms, which are stiff where your head was pillowed on them, and crack your joints. No doubt John is looking for you. Smiling, humming a little tune in your head, you stand up and head off to find an adventure, however mundane. You are completely certain that you will sleep very well tonight.


End file.
